Gianni Morbidelli set the pace in Free Practice One at the Salzburgring in his WestCoast Racing Honda Civic with a time just under the ninety-second barrier outpacing fellow Honda driver Jordi Oriola by just two tenths of a second on a track with damp patches but which was otherwise dry. It wasn’t easy though for Morbidelli as during the latter half of the session he suffered with downshift issue.
It was close in the top five, just nine-tenths separated Morbidelli in first to B3 Racing Team Hungary’s Attila Tassi, the seventeen year old putting in a strong performance at the Austrian circuit running faster than drivers with many more years of experience than himself. The teenager was only three-tenths slower than Championship Leader and Team Craft-Bamboo driver Pepe Oriola in his Seat Leon and Morbidelli’s team mate and series newcomer Harald Proczyk putting in a good initial performance at his home race.
Briton and Team Craft Bamboo driver James Nash missed out slimly on breaking the top five by less than a tenth of a second just ahead of top ranking VW driver Florian Janits and fellow team-mate Sergey Afanasyev who were split by just three-hundredths of a second.
Rounding out the Top Ten were B3 Racing Team Hungary’s Dušan Borković who was running well until his session was ruined by a loose diffuser and Peter Fulin in his first outing of the Mulsanne Racing Alfa Romeo Giulietta placing it just on the rim of the top ten showing the potential of the Giulietta chassis. His teammate was Michela Cerruti was not able to make the same impression as she went into the gravel at Turn one with just three minutes left of the session.
It was a difficult first practice for the Leopard Racing VW Golf drivers, Stefano Comini and Jean-Karl Vernay who found it difficult to find the time on track ending the session in twelfth and fourteenth respectively.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 10 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 1:27.050 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | Jordi ORIOLA |  |
Target Competition | Honda Civic TCR | 17 | 1:27.264 | 0.214 |
| 3 | 43 | Harald PROCZYK |  |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 14 | 1:27.592 | 0.542 |
| 4 | 74 | Pepe ORIOLA | |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 15 | 1:27.645 | 0.595 |
| 5 | 9 | Attila TASSI |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 16 | 1:27.905 | 0.855 |
| 6 | 54 | James NASH |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 16 | 1:28.089 | 1.039 |
| 7 | 45 | Florian JANITS | |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 17 | 1:28.142 | 1.092 |
| 8 | 77 | Sergey AFANASYEV |  |
Team Craft-Bamboo LUKOIL | SEAT León TCR | 14 | 1:28.178 | 1.128 |
| 9 | 62 | Dušan BORKOVIĆ |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 9 | 1:28.265 | 1.215 |
| 10 | 22 | Petr FULÍN |  |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 16 | 1:28.321 | 1.271 |
| 11 | 7 | Davit KAJAIA |  |
Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 17 | 1:28.348 | 1.298 |
| 12 | 1 | Stefano COMINI |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 16 | 1:28.379 | 1.329 |
| 13 | 70 | Mat’o HOMOLA |  |
B3 Racing Team Hungary | SEAT León TCR | 12 | 1:28.694 | 1.644 |
| 14 | 2 | Jean-Karl VERNAY |  |
Leopard Racing | Volkswagen Golf Gti TCR | 18 | 1:28.803 | 1.753 |
| 15 | 8 | Mikhail GRACHEV | |
West Coast Racing | Honda Civic TCR | 17 | 1:28.811 | 1.761 |
| 16 | 88 | Michela CERRUTI | |
Mulsanne Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR | 15 | 1:30.001 | 2.951 |